WITNESS is a global organization that helps people everywhere harness the power of video and audiovisual technology to tell their stories, document the truth, and defend human rights—today and in a future increasingly shaped by AI. With growing threats to human rights and its defenders, along with the proliferation of manipulated media, WITNESS addresses urgent questions: How can we ensure that critical voices are heard, amplified, and protected? How do we establish the authenticity of video when the truth is constantly in question? And how can we proactively adapt to the transformative shifts in communication brought by AI? Working across five continents, WITNESS equips activists, journalists, fact-checkers, and other human rights defenders with the tools, skills, and strategies needed to navigate this shifting landscape. The organization’s work spans three key areas: Defending the Earth by supporting the use of audiovisual technology for land defense and addressing the climate crisis, including helping activists document and expose environmental violations such as threats to Indigenous and Traditional territories and countering AI-fueled disinformation around extreme weather events; Advancing Justice in Conflict & State Violence by ensuring video can be effectively used to hold governments and perpetrators of abuses accountable for acts of violence and repression, such as strengthening the credibility of footage of police brutality or helping activists verify the authenticity of video evidence from conflict zones; and Shaping and Responding to Emerging Technologies by influencing how audiovisual technologies are built, governed, and used—from infrastructure and standards to policy and regulations—and equipping activists and movements with tools and expertise to detect and respond to AI-generated deception.
Why it matters: WITNESS addresses the paradox that video has become both the most powerful tool for documenting human rights abuses and increasingly vulnerable to manipulation through AI, requiring proactive strategies to establish authenticity when truth is constantly in question. By equipping activists, journalists, and human rights defenders across five continents with tools to verify authenticity, counter AI-fueled disinformation, and hold perpetrators accountable, WITNESS ensures that critical voices defending Earth, documenting state violence, and exposing environmental violations can continue to be heard and amplified despite growing threats. The organization’s dual focus on both using audiovisual technology for documentation and influencing how these technologies are built, governed, and regulated demonstrates that protecting human rights in an AI-shaped future requires both practical tools for defenders and systemic intervention in technology development itself.
